Mayo Clinic Adds Babylon Micro-Farm to Its Rochester Campus
October 9, 2024 According to Foodservice Director, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota added a miniature hydroponic farm from Babylon Micro-Farms to its Dan Abraham Living Center Cafe in early 2024. Since it was installed, the farm has produced more than 100 pounds of fresh vegetables for culinary use in the health center.
The farm is located behind the cafe’s entree station, and it grows lettuce, herbs, and leafy greens that are used in sandwiches, salads, and bowls on campus. Considering the Dan Abraham Living Center boasts healthy living with its fitness center, pools, and steam rooms, serving fresh vegetables at the cafe only made sense.
The micro-farm makes it easy for Mayo’s growers to tend to their crops, as they can be monitored on a mobile app.
“It’s a very nice way of growing something where it’s not a lot of burden on the person doing it,” said David Bredesen, Morrison Healthcare’s food service manager at the Mayo Clinic. “The farm will prompt me, ‘Hey, it’s time to do a deep clean.’ So I go through the process, and the app will tell me what steps should be followed in what particular order.”
For a complete overview of Babylon Micro-Farms’ miniature hydroponic farms and how they work, click here.
In addition to producing fresh vegetables for use in the cafe, the farm has made the Dan Abraham Living Center a more popular dining option.
“Foot traffic’s been growing at a steady rate,” said Breseden. “This really is a nice, bright addition to the café. It kind of brings a little bit of a conversational piece, too.”
In the future, the Mayo Clinic may be interested in installing micro-farms in other areas around its 118,000 square-foot Rochester campus. According to L.J. Gearhart, Morrison’s Robotics, Automation, & Innovation manager, Mayo Clinic wants to see a return on investment (ROI) first. And to them, that’s consistently promoting a quality and local dining experience on-site.